Monorail constructions



May 23, 1961 H. s. sMTH MoNoRAIL coNs'rRUcTIoNs W a 1 J e @hv 6 Filed March 20, 1957 May 23, 1961 s. sM'r- MoNoRAIL coNsTRUcTIoNs 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 20, 1957 INVENTOR. 51%,, M .cw-tz BY 4 Jaw fz'z'agfa'z May 23, 1961 s. sMTH MoNoRAIL coNsTRucTIoNs ;M BY

6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 20, 1957 May 23, 1961 s. sMTH MoNoRAIL coNsTRucTIoNs INVENTOR HENRY SUCH SMITH Jawa,

6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed March 20, 1957 ATTORNEY United States Patent MONORAIL CONSTRUCTIONS Henry Such Smith, Raritan Road, 11.0. Box '5, Roselle, NJ.

'Filed 'Mar. 20, 1957,'SenN0. 647,370

8 Claims. (Cl. 238-122) TMonorail transportation .systems require the furnishing and installation of a continuously suspended railbeam made .up -of sections. This -beam must be straight, free of surface irregularities and little subject to deflection :and movement under severe dynamic load. .It must be ffaultlessly-safe, easy to inspectand maintain, and be permanently reliable.

As steel fabrication operations can be carried out under :better supervision, with more reliability, and at lower cost'under shop assembly conditions than in the field, it is desirable that 'the `railbeam sections Abe shop prefabrivcated -to the greatest possible extent. .To :meet these .requirements as to accuracy of alignment-;and reliability of construction, prefabricated railbeamsof the largestspracfticalisize and greatest practical length .must be integrated iin the-*field with the least amount of well-tpositioned welding a't-'the jobsite.

yFor convenience in field erection, the prefabricated sec- -tion -should'have 'joints designed tofacilitate joining, ;alignment, and symmetrical welding, and to permit ;a reasonable sequence yof symmetrical welding operations ito prop- 7erly control the stress `unavoidably placed lin ;the -rnetal by the welding operations. Such an arrangement ;for Vjoining the sections saves-labor, requires less supervision, and ;gives a more reliable finishedjob.

[Expansion joints must be ;provided at reasonable inter- `vals. These joints must hold Vthe adjacent railbeamflsectionsin perfect alignment against forces of tension, comipression, shear, torsion, and -possible dynamic'flutter-of the monorail'car'at certain spee'cls. They must-fiextend-and retract without interrupting the continuity ofthe running surfaces on the rail ,to avoid bumping the numerous 'carrying and vguiding tires .of lthe monorail car 'as they pass the joint. The fact vthat thesetires may, Ito some extent, i'be pre-loadedagainst the railbeam to prevent jcar viiutter and lsway further dictatesthat,'while-carrying great weight,

the expansion joint surface must neither-permit vthe wheels v I to drop below the adjacent railbeam surfaces, nor force the'wheels'up-off these surfaces. `The present linvention l'provides improvements in 'struc- 'ture Iof certain vof the pre-formed elements, their relative placement'in'thelrailbeam section, land a welding'sequence to permit Vsubstantial prefabrication and produce a jstraighter, stronger, and more reliable monorail transporta-tion system at Vlower installed cost, and which'takes care of expansion and construction forces with full maintenance of bstrength. i i

In the saccompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is afschematic view in perspective showing 'a sec- 'tion Vof the monorailA assembly lwith a car supported thereby.

Fig. 2 :is a vertical section on the line 2--2, Fig. `1.

'Fig. 3 is a *view in elevation, partly in dotted "line's' showing an rassembly of 'monorail elements .constituting one overhead section to be supported bypylons.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on theline 4-4, 'Fig. 3.

1 K Fig. Sis a schematic welding-'procedure view in eleva- Y.

rfice tion composed of an upper representation, and a lower representation -having one additional monorail section welded 'thereto.

Fig. 6 is a composite view in perspective and vertical section showing two monorail lsections ready for vinterfitting and welding.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view showing the bottom portion of the left hand section of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is .a'vew'in'elevation of the stifiener.

Eig.'9 is a fragmentaiy 'section of the monorail, in elevation, Vand at the welded jointure of tWo monorail secftions.

Fig. 10 is a vertical section of aspecial jointure between two 4monorail sections, providing for expansion .and contraction.

Fig. 1'1 is a 'longitudinal cross Sectional viewtaken lalongsline 11-11 of Figure 10, partly 'broken away'showing the structure of Fig. 110.

Fig. 12.is a fra'gmentary'isometrc lview showing the structure lof `Figs. -10 and 11.

'Fig. 13 is a fragrnentaryhorizontal sectiontaken generally on 'the 'lines 13-13, 'Fig. 12.

.Fi-g. 14 is a I'fragmentary topplan viewtaken along `line 14--14 of the structure shown in Fig. 12.

section, stifieners 4 are provided. These are convenilently, but not necessarily, made of T sections.

'On 'top of the structure is welded the inverted V carguide and top `Vchord s'tifening'member 6. At one end vof the structure the'bo'ttom chord pipe 1 projects a considerfablefdistance-asshown at 7, 'Fig. 3. At the opposite end,

the inverted V guide section projects a smaller distance as lshown by the left-hand 'representation of Fig. 6. At the reverse end'of the 'inverted V guide section, lat the end of 'the prefabric'a'ted section where the pipe projects, a smaller inverted V shaped guide tongue 9 projects v'a short distance.

vAt appropriate places, ithin'back-up strips or tubes to 'permit welding as much 'as possible from the outside, are suppled. A 'back-up tube v1-1 is thus placed in the recessed endof Ithe pipe, as Vshown in Figs. 6 and 7, and a pair of welding back-up strips 13 is placed within the outer margins of 'the steeply inclined member 3 'at the end 'w'here 'the pipe 1 is 'recessed. The short section of 'inverted V shaped guide tongue v9 which yfits within the main guide inverted V section `6 provides back-up material .for the welded joint to 'be formed at such area.

Handholes'r17 rat `a reasonable distance `from the vertical ends of the main railbeam linclined sides are provided, .and as-close to their horizontal neutral axis as practical, to permit welding 'at the top 18 of the pipe 1 during field -erectio Simple cover plates 20 may be welded on :after the 'pipeljoint at '18, Fig. 3, has been welded. Op- -po'sed ycut-cuts, one being shown at 22, Fig. 3, are provided iinmem'ber `16 to permitwelding of the joined areas underlying the same.l If required, an internal stifener vZlsnay be -provded and secured by welding or other means within the member 6'to strengthen its end enough 4to facilitate the .proper assembly. Since guide wheels of lthe 'monorail car run against the inclined sides of mem- `ber 6, a special insert 24 is provided to snap into vIilacfe 'railbeam proceeding frofnright to left 'is Vindicated with dthree monorail sections per pylon;

The upward arrow #1 representsone of two cranes' holding the first railbeam section projecting beyond the last supporting pylon.

The`upward arrow #2 represents a second crane bringing the next railbeam down and to the right;V The end re- -sult of this operation is perfect register of the added railbeam section as shown Vin Fig. 9. When the just-added railbeam sectionhas been properly welded, the first crane,

-represented by upward arrow #1, is released for 4duty beyond crane #2. Fig. 5, representation B, shows installation by crane #1' of the following railbeam section `-ini asimilar manner.

g Referring to Fig.` and Fig. 15, two castings 29 with interfitting sets of tongues 25, 26, each casting welded to ;and lprotr'uding from the face of its respective member 3 -constitute "a joint which permits expansion and contraction of the joined members 3; The group of heavy :tongues 25, 26 at themiddle and upper portion of the. in-

clined sides of member 3 and at the circular bottom of the monorail section constitute the shear bearing, and

torsion resisting elements of the expansion joint. The ;group of lighter tongues at the top of the monorail section and at the lower portion of its inclined sides constitutejthe running sur-face for the tires of the monorail car. The expansion joint is prevented from lineal separation by provision of matching interlocking tongues '31 'formed with Aelongated slots, Fig. 11 and Fig. 15, through which appropriate heavy pins 32 areplaced and screwed by standard means. i

Each of the major longitudinal elements of the mono- -rail beam section may be approximately 20 feet long. .The pipe 1 preferably is of 6" diameter and of appropri- .ate thickness. -The main top and inclined side plates will be of steel approximately thick. Of these combined- .purpose plates; the horizontal section of each plate form- 'ing member 3 may be approximately 151/2" wide. Each app`ended, inclined vertical portion is approximately 38" from the flange to its lower edge where it is welded 'to the side of the pipe 1.' The upper V guide 6 is formed Aof a single'strip of lA plate approximately one foot :wide so that its Iheight vis approximately 6". The inverted V guide is made so that each side leans at approximately degrees from the vertical.

In shop fabrication, each side of member 3 will be -formed with an angle of approximately 75 degrees. Thus when the top surfaces of these main structural .plates are horizontal, the lower inclined areas would extend ;in from the vertical approximately 15 degrees.

To; assemble, after the two main side plates of member 3 have been arranged to face each other with the top .surfaces ,horizontal and matching, they are tack welded. After being tacked, a continuous weld by manual or automatic means is' carn'eddown the ,central joint. The par- `tial structure -is then turned upside down with the in- 'clined portions of the sidel plates now extending inwards 'to a gap of approximately 6" in which pipe 1 isV to be installed. The pipe is installed with one end 7 (Fig. 6) projecting approximately a foot and su'nk to approximately half its diameter between the inclined side plates. Here the pipe is held by suitable jigs inV Vexact valignment and after appropriate tack welding, final production welding proceeds' by manual or automatic means, preferably with the two sides being welded simultaneously.

The partially completed monorail section is turned over to the position in which it will be used, that is with the lat side upward and the pipe downward. It is now ready for application ofthe inverted V guide member 6. v This guide member is separately readied by the instal- Alationof 'the smaller Vextension 9 which is approximately `6" long and welded with 'its end protruding 3". By use relationship to tit and grip the six inch pipe. .this procedure would bend the metal twice at the mddle of holes and plug welding or other methods, this small matching V is fastened so that no welding metal is present to interfere with matching of sections when they are to be joined in the field.

The long inverted V guide member is now placed in the center of the main monorail beam section with 6 of one end protruding beyond the main beam section at the end opposite that where the pipe protrudes Vin the other direction. After symmetrical tack welding, the inverted V section is finish welded to the top of the main monorail beam by symmetrical manual or automatic welding torches operating and moving simultaneously. It is to be noted that the end of the smaller inverted V tongue 9 sets back from the end of the member, say 3", and the full length inverted V section only commences 3" further, or 6" from the end of the main beam section 10 at the end from which the pipe projects. i

The stilfeners 4, which may be of T or other Section as required, are welded with a staggering series of intermittent tack welds to prevent chance of distortion of member 3.

An alternative embodied in the spirit of the invention is that by theuse of heavy machinery, the entire sides and top of member 3 could be formed from one piece, thus eliminating the continuous weld at the middle of its top surface. This operation, could conveniently be performed by the following operation: In practice, a plate of approximately /s" thickness, approximately 10 wide, and the length of the railbeam section would be longitudinally bent up along its middle. That is, what Vsubsequently would be the fiat top surface of the finished railbeam section is temporarily bent in the form of an ,upturned V trough. At appropriate lines on each side of the center, the outward wings of the large plate would be bent down, each wing to include an angle of 75 de- -grees as explained in the earlier method of construction.

The preliminary bend which is temporary, would provide room for the machine to make the two side bends. Now the whole element would be inverted and placed back in the forming machine where the preliminary ,bend would bringing the two vertical inclined sides to their proper While of its top surface, each bend would be of small amplirtude, and the operation would be located at a neutral axis where the metal would not be stressed by normal or accidental strains of operation in the finished monorail system.

Reference has been made to specific back-up and reenforcing elements. Such elements additional to those referred to may be employed where needed. Thus at 14,k Fig. 3, I have indicated at 14 a back-up strip placed under the longitudinal centre of the flat top Vof member 3 below tongue 9.

As corrosive conditions may be encountered at some glocations, the expansion joint is suflciently massive, and

possesses sufiiciently large bearing areas so that its usefulness will survive considerable corrosion. 'For some applications, it is desirable to hermetically seal the inner groups of railbeam sections between the Vexpansion joints, therefore these joints must also provide means of effectively sealing the ends of the contiguous railbeam sections. For this purpose reference to Figs. 10 and 11 will show that each casting which forms one of the two expansion joint units 30 isformed with a lower tubular 'welded upon'flange 36, 'as will be understood without messes further explanation. This-Will prevent ,passage of moist air or corrosive gases to Ythe .interiorof .the .joined monorail sections between the expansion 'joints. These joined sections between Vthe expansion joints may run 300-4'00 feet in length, and for -added protection anti-corrosve inert gas such asnitrogen may -be'contained in such sealed joined sections of the monorail. As a further utility, the joined sections may llee-employed as a fluid conduit inasmuch as the -t-wo opposed sealing plates (not shown) when carried on the 4flanges 36 of -the castings 29 may intercommunicate by flexible conduits well known in the art of fluid transmission.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made in the form and arrangement of the elements shown in the embodiments illustrated without departure from the spirit of the invention.

A modification within the spirit of the invention is the placing of the pipe with its projecting end 7 at the same end of the main rail beam section as the inverted V top guide stiffener extension 8 rather than at the opposite end as shown in the drawing. Erection might be somewhat less convenient, but it might be felt that the prefabricated unit would thus be less subject to damage in transit. In the claims member 7 is termed the tubular bottom tension chord, member 3, in joined combination of two elements, is termed the angular hollow beam and its horizontal joined flanges compose the top chord of the angular hollow beam, and member 6 is ter-med the top chord stiifener-guide. Inasmuch as members 9, 11 and 13 can be integral inward flanges of the members which carry them, by mechanically produced inward offset of metal depth, they are termed inward fianges. In either case, the prefabricated monorail sections telescopically fit to each other in field erection, and enable major welded joints spaced from normally highly stressed welded cross-Sectional lines joining opposed angular hollow beams.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. A monorail section composed of an angular hollow beam having a flat top and inwardly inclined sides and having, a tubular bottom tension chord, a longitudinal top chord stiflener guide secured to said flat top, and a casting welded to one end of said beam, said casting being generally wedge shaped and conforming to the sides and top of the angular hollow beam and having a tubular neck adjacent to the bottom thereof telescopically received within said tubular bottom chord, said casting having longitudinally outwardly projecting spaced apart tongues forming exterior surfaces co-extensive with the top and sides of the angular hollow beam.

2. A monorail section composed of an angular hollow beam having a flat top and inwardly inclined sides and having, a tubular bottom tension chord, a longitudinal top chord stiifener guide secured to said flat top, and a casting welded to one end of said beam, said casting being generally wedge shaped and conforrning to the sides and top of the angular hollow beam and having a tubular neck adjacent to the bottom thereof telescopically received within said tubular bottom chord, said casting having exterior longitudinally outwardly projecting spaced apart tongues forming exterior surfaces co-extensive with the top and sides of the angular hollow beam, and at least one set of interior longitudinally outwardly projecting tongues in lateral alignment with said exterior tongues, each tongue defining :an elongated slot receiving a fastener therethrough.

3. A monorail section composed of an angular hollow beam having a flat top and inwardly inclined sides and having, a tubular bottom tension chord, a longitudinal top chord stifiener guide secured to said flat top, and a casting welded to one end of said beam, said casting being generally wedge shaped and conforming to the sides and top of the angular hollow beam and having a tubular neck adjacent to the bottom thereof telescopically re-- ceived within ,said tubular bottom chord, said casting having exterior .longitudinally outwardly projecting sets :of spaced apart tongues formingexterior surfaces coexten- .sive with the topand sidesof the .angular hollow beam, and additional interior longitudinally` outwardly projecting tongues lin lateral `alignment with said exterior tongues, the tongues which lie .adjacent each other'being similarly spacedfthe said `interior'tongues being in two groups, one group 'being disposed below and adjacent the top tongues of the casting and the second group being disposed below -the longitudinal centre ofthe casting and above the=bottom tubular chord, the tongues-ofeachof the saidtwo interior groups having elongated slots for receiving fasteners therethrough.

4. A monorail section composed of an angular hollow beam having a flat top and inwardly inclined sides and having, a tubular bottom tension chord, a longitudinal top chord stifi'ener guide secured to said flat top, and a casting welded to one end of said beam, said casting being generally wedge shaped and conforming to the sides and top of the angular hollow beam and having a tubular neck adjacent to the bottom thereof telescopically received within said tubular bottom chord, said casting having exterior longitudinally outwardly projecting sets of spaced apart tongues forming exterior surfaces coextensive with the top and sides of the angular hollow beam, said casting having a wedge-shaped inwardly projecting flange and having an aperture bounded by the flange and communicating with the interior of the angular hollow beam defining an auxiliary closure.

5. A monorail section composed of an angular hollow beam lhaving a flat top and inwardly inclined sides and having, a tubular bottom tension chord, a longitudinal top chord stiifener guide secured to said flat top, and a casting welded to one end of said beam, said casting being generally wedge shaped and conforming to the sides and top of the angular hollow beam and having a tubular neck adjacent to the bottom thereof telescopically received within said tubular lbottom chord and receiving the latter, said casting having exterior longitudinally outwardly projecting sets of spaced apart tongues forming exterior surfaces co-extensive with the top and sides of the angular hollow beam, said casting having a wedgeshaped inwardly projecting flange and having an aperture bounded by the flange and communicating with the interior of the angular hollow beam defining an auxiliary closure, said flange having a peripheral inset shoulder received within the walls of the angular hollow beam for exterior smooth -in-line surface connection, such flange at its base having a projected neck, and an aperture aifording manual access to said neck for welding of the tubular chord upper areas.

6. The combination of two interconnected monorail sections each constructed in accordance with claim 1, the outwardly projected spaced tongues of the first section being spaced apart a distance approximately equal to the spaces between the tongues of the second section, and the tongues being interfitted and enabling controlled expansion and for contraction of the sections, and rods slidably supported within the slots of the interior interfitted tongues providing said control.

7. The combination of two interconnected monorail sections each constructed in accordance with claim 1, the outwardly projected spaced tongues of the first section being spaced apart a distance approximately equal to the spaces between the tongues of the second section, and the tongues being interfitted and enabling controlled expansion, and means slidably supported within the slots of the interior interfitted tongues for movement longitudinally of said sections for controlling expansion and contraction of the said sections, said means being in tension to apply lateral pressure on said interfitted tongues.

8. The combination of two interconnected monorail sections each constructed in accordance with claim 1,

the outwardly projected spaced tongues of the first section being. spaced apart a distanceV approximately Vequal to the spaces between the tongues of the second section, and the tongues being interfitted and enabling controlled expansion, and means slidably supported Within the slots of the interior interfitted tongues for movement longitu- 5 dinally of said sections for controlling` expansion and contraction of the said sections, said means being in tension to apply lateral pressure on said interfitted tongues and having at least one rotational pressure-inducng end member exposed at a side face of an appropriate casting 1 for adjusting said tension.

i References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Capewell Aug. 30,-1898 Armstrong Jan. 8, 1901 Burnett Sept. 1, 1936 Benbow Nov. 16, 1948 Henderson Ian. 23, 1951 Hinsken et al. Apr. 16, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS I France Aug. 5, 1837 

